The Latest Imperfectly Well Balanced Climate Policy Book: Part 1

In Short

1. Much of the content isn’t new for those who’ve read other climate policy books before, with some key exceptions.
2. All climate friendly technologies can benefit to some extent from the learning curve principle.
3. States and cities can do a lot more on climate than you think.

Intro

I first came across Hal Harvey’s previous book Designing Climate Solutions back in the summer of 2020. Although clearly written for those with a background in the field, it ended up providing me with so much great policy knowledge that I marked it all up and still refer back to it often. Thus, I was excited to hear that he and science writer Justin Gillis were publishing a 2nd climate policy book, The Big Fix, which recently came out less than two months before the U.S. midterm elections. And while much of its content wasn’t new to me, the authors did emphasize several solutions that will be pivotal to meeting our climate goals going forward.

Format

The book was well balanced mainly in that it gives relatively equal weight to the proven solutions we already have versus the areas that still need innovation. This was a welcome sight to me, knowing that essential technologies such as EVs, heat pumps and green hydrogen must not be mutually exclusive. The authors also cover actions all levels of government can take, which is important to emphasize since many people still think the President and Congress make all the decisions (newsflash: they don’t). The Big Fix goes over each sector, typical of most climate policy books nowadays, which is good in terms of scope, but means many concepts are a bit redundant. Nonetheless, here’s what stood out to me: